Resident Evil originated as a survival horror game released in 1996. Since then the franchise has vastly expanded into multiple games and movies, the most recent being the film, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City which was released in November of this year. The most important thing to keep in mind when discussing the Resident Evil movies, especially the ones by Paul Anderson, is that they lean more into the action genre than the horror genre. With that said, the movies still have their moments to horrify, especially when you take a few minutes to really contemplate what is going on. Here's every live-action Resident Evil movie, ranked by their scare value.

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7. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

Starting off the list is the last film created by Paul Anderson in the Resident Evil franchise. This movie attempts to conclude the saga of the Resident Evil films but ends up falling flat. Despite the scene with the monster named "bloodshot" being a bit scary, overall there is not much in the ways of horror for this film. At this point in the Paul Anderson saga, action had thoroughly overtaken horror as the focused genre. As a result, monsters feel less like a tool utilized for scares and more just placed to be shot at and killed before moving on to the next scene; it is a reminder of what the series used to be about before the drastic shift towards gunfights and one-on-one battles between two humans.

6. Resident Evil: Retribution

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The shift towards action resonates heavily within Resident Evil: Retribution. Scenes begin to focus less on new monsters and more on just increasing the number of existing monsters or shootouts with super soldiers that make you forget that the series initially thrived off of bioweapon abominations instead of armies. The scene that, perhaps, conveys the biggest sense of terror is the closing shot, where the protagonists find themselves bunkered within the White House with an endless sea of monsters pounding and attempting to force their way past the barricades. It gives an overwhelming sense of dread and hopelessness, and for that, it beats out The Last Chapter in terms of overall scare value.

5. Resident Evil: Afterlife

Alice wielding a shotgun while Claire stands next to her in Resident Evil Afterlife
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Resident Evil: Afterlife might just be the last movie to introduce a monster that is both scary and gets enough screen time to really sink in that scariness with audiences. While the Kipepeo is introduced in the movie's sequel and is a scarier monster overall (imagine a giant flying bat creature), it really feels like Paul Anderson didn't give it a proper chance to present its scare value. With Afterlife, however, we get one action scene that shows just how strong and deadly the Executioner is. The Executioner is a hulking mass of destruction that wields an ax almost as big as itself to pummel and pulverize its victims with. While Alice (Milla Jovovich) does end up outsmarting and defeating the intimidating beast, anyone watching the scene would almost certainly think about how screwed they would be if they encountered the monster themselves. Another notable mention is the scene that introduces the Majini Undead into the series, as they are teased ever so slightly in some dialogue before spontaneously appearing inside the safe haven that was the Citadel Correctional Facility.

4. Resident Evil: Extinction

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In the third movie of the Anderson saga, the world becomes a desolated wasteland as a result of all the chaos Umbrella had unleashed into the world. Fans of the Mad Max series will find that this film attempts to achieve a similar feel, with everything taking place with a desert backdrop and an emphasis on the use of vehicles for survival. The horror in this film primarily comes from the experimentations that Dr. Isaacs performs throughout. To oversimplify, he finds a way to create zombies that are intelligent enough to solve basic puzzles and use tools such as a camera. In addition, these zombies are super strong, and that becomes a major issue when they go beserk from becoming angry. You don't have to be a horror expert to understand that taking a bloodthirsty creature and giving it more strength to maul you with is a terrifying idea. Also included in this film is Dr. Isaacs becoming a grotesque monster, so that also amplifies the body horror seen within the film's runtime.

3. Resident Evil

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The first film that kicked off the Paul Anderson saga was simply titled Resident Evil, and it started off the series with a heavier focus on horror, though including a plethora of action as well. After all, a great Resident Evil game finds a way to balance action and horror, and the same principle should, theoretically, apply to the movies as well. While it didn't do the best job at adapting the games and their stories for the big screen, the original Resident Evil movie does a decent job at incorporating assets of the series into its own story. The infamous "laser scene" is one that gives a scary atmosphere, not unlike that depicted in the final scene of Retribution.

This scene shows everyone trapped in the laser hallway being killed off one by one as the lasers move towards them, slicing everything in its path. The final part of the scene where the last remaining member gets completely diced by the lasers twisting and turning into a pattern that was impossible to maneuver around was also somewhat horrifying and memorable. The movie also gets bonus scare points for having a child AI antagonist that is downright murderous and shows no desire to preserve the lives of anyone who is unfortunate enough to find themselves within the Hive.

2. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City

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While Welcome to Raccoon City has an edge in being the most recent movie in the series and thus having access to the best technologies and a history of films to further improve themselves on through reflection, it still has moments where the scares just do not land properly. Despite this, the film does have a few scenes that get the heart pumping. Without getting into spoilers, the scene that introduces the Licker was very well executed, and they even have a scene that perfectly evokes the tension found in the games that makes it feel, for just a moment, like a true horror survival experience. The film has some really strong points and some rather weak points, but it is able to overall give a better sense of horror and scariness than most of the Anderson films.

1. Resident Evil: Apocalypse

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Topping the list at number one is Resident Evil: Apocalypse. While Welcome to Raccoon City succeeds at providing a survival horror feeling at times, Apocalypse does a better job at conveying that unsettling atmosphere of survival horror. The protagonists are constantly being chased by a terrifying bioweapon that knows how to shoot guns and launch rockets, and even though this is where the main protagonist, Alice, starts to show her capabilities as an enhanced human herself, there's a lot of genuine concern over the rest of the group and if they will be able to survive the Tyrant. Even with the visuals of Nemesis not entirely holding up with age, the scenario that Apocalypse created is scary enough to propel it to the top of the list, with an entire city succumbing to the T-Virus outbreak. This is where the series takes all the scary creatures we saw in the first movie and bumps up the numbers of infected tremendously. More monsters, more scares, and bigger threats are all here in the sequel to the original film.

Ultimately, there isn't really a Resident Evil film that quite captures horror the way fans wanted it to from the games. However, it should not be overlooked that the films do have their moments, and these scenes offer proof that the ability to make a movie set in the Resident Evil world that focuses primarily on horror is indeed possible. For now, though, it seems that we will have to be content with the protagonists gunning down all that stands in their way as they advance towards their next moment of reprieve. Perhaps the scariest thing about the films is that the nightmare never stops. Nowhere is safe, and death is always just a bite away.